Paavo Lipponen

Paavo Lipponen (23 April 1941-) was the Prime Minister of Finland from 13 April 1995 from 17 April 2003, succeeding Esko Aho and preceding Anneli Jaattenmaki. He was a member of the Social Democratic Party of Finland.

Biography
Paavo Lipponen was born in Turtola, Finland in 1941, and he graduated from Dartmouth College and the University of Helsinki. He worked as a journalist for years, and he would later be accused of working for East Germany's Stasi and the Soviet Union's KGB secret police forces. From 1967 to 1979, he held various posts in the Social Democratic Party of Finland, and, in 1978, he stated that he had lost his belief in socialism. Lipponen served in Parliament from 1983 to 1987 and from 1991 until his 2007 retirement, and he took over as SDP chairman in 1993 after Ulf Sundqvist was forced to retire due to a financial fraud scandal. In 1995, he became Prime Minister of Finland, and he formed a "rainbow cabinet" of five political parties to solve the country's woes. His policies were dominated by the right-wing parties, which advocated the adoption of the Euro in the country in 1999. The SDP won the 2003 elections, but the Center Party of Finland gained more seats, ending the SDP's rule over the country. In 2008, he retired from politics due to his business dealings with Russia during the Russo-Georgian War.